Disneyland's Haunted Mansion Gets 1000th Resident!!

got this in my DisneyWorldTrivia.com newsletter and thought it was pretty interesting

Disneyland's Haunted Mansion Gets 1000th Resident!!

In the most lucrative Disneyland charity auction ever, Cary Sharp, 37, of Baton Rouge, La., cast the winning bid of $37,400 to become an "honorary resident" of Disneyland park's "Haunted Mansion." Over 60,000 people visited the auction's online site by the time the final bid was tallied at 6 p.m. (EST) Thursday. All the proceeds raised from this auction on eBay, The World's Online Marketplace®, will go to benefit selected chapters of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Sharp, a doctor and health care attorney who has visited Disneyland twice before, was stunned to learn he had achieved the top bid. He cast the winning amount the night before the auction closed, and the five-digit figure held up through the final hours of the week-long bidding contest.

"To be honest, I thought I would be outbid, but I enjoy Disney and this is for charity. It's a historic first and it's for a worthy cause," Sharp said. "I initially put in a bid of $35,000 as a joke, to give my buddies something to tease me about, but I went back to the auction about five minutes before it closed, and I was ready to bid a little more to win. I was ecstatic when I came out on top."

As an honorary resident of the "Haunted Mansion," Sharp will receive his own personalized "tombstone" in the attraction, marking the public's first-ever chance to be an enduring part of a Disneyland attraction. He will also receive a one-of-a-kind miniature replica of the tombstone and a certificate officially recognizing the addition to the attraction. The unique gravestone will bear Sharp's first name and a humorous epitaph, inspired by his interests or hobbies, written and personalized by the creative team at Walt Disney Imagineering.

Additionally, Sharp and his fiancee, Debbie Dubler, 36, of Metairie, La., were spirited to Disneyland in time for a midnight "wake" and "burial" ceremony on Thursday, October 28, officially placing the tombstone in the graveyard of the "Haunted Mansion."